I spent last week near the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, on the banks of the Mississippi River, finding myself at a crossroads for Southpoint Access. For a little more than a year, I’ve worked on finding the kinds of content and a publishing cadence that works for my neighbors in Hope Valley, Parkwood, Fairfield, and other South Durham communities.
From the Independent News Sustainability Summit, hosted by LION Publishers, I came away with the following insights:
- I had reduced the daily showcase letters to Monday and Wednesday ostensibly to cut my workload. But I still found myself putting out newsletters on other days of the week too.
- Some of those other newsletters – Obituaries and the SoDu Weekly Crime Report, as examples – are timed for specific days of the week.
- So, rather than run two showcase newsletters during the week and then a bunch of other newsletters on other days – doesn’t it make more sense to publish a differently themed newsletter each day?
- Themed issues make sense not just from a readership consistency perspective, but also for conversations with potential sponsors.
So, starting this week, your neighborhood news guy is pivoting to a new publishing schedule:
- Monday: Your Week Ahead.
- Tuesday: Life and Legacy.
- Wednesday: Locally Aware.
- Thursday: Kitchen Table.
- Friday: Viewpoints and Voices.
- Saturday: Looking Back in Bull City.
The Monday-Friday newsletters go to paying subscribers who have opted in for the showcase emails during the week. The Saturday newsletter goes to all readers who are subscribed to it.
I’ve also launched a new survey for readers. Fill it out for a chance to win a $25 gift card to Bull City Solera and Taproom!
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Author: Wes Platt
Lead storyteller. Game designer and journalist. Recovering Floridian. Email: southpointaccessnews@gmail.com.
